Climate change is reflected in a host of shifts around the globe. Scientists have been tracking the patterns in Earth’s changing temperatures, ice masses, weather events, and oceans.

Temperatures

Global Average Temperature Has Been Rising

Global average temperature has increased in recent decades, and the most recent decade was the warmest in the past century. Land areas and the Arctic region have experienced the greatest warming.

This video helps to visualize rising global surface temperatures. Red indicates temperatures that are higher than the long-term average. Blue indicates temperatures that are lower than the long-term average.

Visualization from NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, provided by Robert B. Schmunk (NASA/GSFC GISS). Source

Next: Changes to Ice Masses

Additional Resources from the National Academies

Climate Change: Evidence, Impacts, and Choices is a web resource that includes a free 36-page booklet offers answers to common questions about the science of climate change, as well as a 26-minute video, PowerPoint presentation, and image gallery.

Climate Change: Evidence & Causes is a free, 36-page booklet produced by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society that describes what is well-established and where understanding is still developing in the area of climate change. It includes a Q&A, climate basics, and a figure gallery. 

The materials in the Koshland Science Museum’s Earth Lab exhibit are based on reports of the National Research Council and works of the U.S. government, and have been vetted for scientific accuracy by a panel of expert advisors.